AIS! I know ur a One Piece fan, so I have to ask.. what do you think of the recent reveal of Luffy's true devil fruit power???? Joyboy??? I love One Piece so much, I have no one to talk to about it! Pls tell me ur thoughts XD
Hi! Sorry I took so long to reply!
***WARNING WARNING SPOILERS FOR ONE PIECE IF YOU KEEP READING - IMMA RAMBLE BROS I will put behind a cut just in case though***
((Oops I put the cut too far down first))
And so it begins… #P4A2022 perks are LIVE!!! Buy cool stuff to decrease world suck at http://projectforawesome.com/donate
There will be way more perks added on Friday when the livestream starts (at 12pm EST!) so keep checking in!
btw if you want to see one of the parts that had me dying laughing the most, the chubby bunny/marshmallow section with Jacksepticeye and Markiplier was gold. This will take you to the part of the stream right around where it starts - it just gets funnier.
We made it to over $5.3 million raised on Jacksepticeye's stream alone - and he has just one of many streams. Overall as a whole community, we've raised over $7.2 million. That's 720 houses that will be built for people experiencing homelessness. The goal is $10 million - 1000 houses. Before Seán's (Jacksepticeye's) stream started, tbh I worried we wouldn't be able to meet such a huge goal. I think the amount raised prior to his stream was $150,000 or so - which is a ton of money, but seemed so far from $10 mill. Even if he hit his own goal of $1 mill, would everyone be able to raise another $9 mill by the end of the year? Because Thankmas goes through the end of the year, although I think most people are probably going to be doing their streams this weekend/week.
But we made it SO FAR in just 10 hours alone. I can't believe it.
And because of that, I now 100% believe we as a community can hit $10 million.
Please still check out https://thankmas.tiltify.com/ - you can view all the fundraisers (probably almost entirely streams) at https://thankmas.tiltify.com/campaigns ... Pop into a stream, say hi, be nice, and if you have the available funds, donate :) The money all goes to the same global amount - and every little bit counts. Whether you can donate $1 or $100 or even more, it all matters.
I can't find the video they played during Seán's stream but I found one on their YouTube channel that shows some of the 3D printed houses. They do a lot more, and build a lot of more normal houses, but this is such a cool thing that I wanted to share this for any who hadn't yet seen.
Aren't they such nice, cute little houses?? I love them! And right now, as a community, we have raised enough to build 720 of them. That's 720 families who can have safety and stability who didn't have it before.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has helped out so far - by donating, by sharing, by streaming, by doing anything you're doing. It means so much.
If you can please keep spreading the word so people know to keep donating, as a global community I really think we can hit that $10 million mark, and together give a home to 1000 families.
Thankmas is still going! It'll be going as a community for days but jacksepticeye's stream is only about an hour left. Markiplier's hanging on stream with him now.
We're over $560,000 on Jack's stream alone, and we're only a little over 2 hours in! We're hoping to raise $1 mill on his stream alone - and as a whole community across the internet, we want to get to $10 million. Every $10,000 is a house built for someone experiencing homelessness.
Jacksepticeye’s livestream link for today for Thankmas, raising money for homelessness :) You can go interact on chat with others now - the official livestream will fully kick off on the hour (about 20 minutes from me posting this, at 8 am PST).
Check it out there! Or find more info/other livestreams to join at https://thankmas.tiltify.com/
Or if you just want to directly donate to Jack’s link, go here: https://tiltify.com/@jacksepticeye/thankmas-2021
Let’s help raise money to build people homes!
https://thankmas.tiltify.com/
Listen I'm kind of stressing out because this year I don't have any money to be able to donate to Thankmas, which is a really awesome charity fundraiser that literally anyone can join. This year the goal is to try to raise 10 million dollars for homelessness.
I should have mentioned all of this earlier on Tumblr but I haven't been online a ton. So I'm mentioning today....
Please check out the link and see if you can join with your own livestream, no matter how small, or doing whatever you do.
You could also pop into any of the livestreams people are doing and donate through there. Or at 8 AM PST today Jacksepticeye will be doing a live stream on his YouTube channel.
You could also buy some of his PMA merch jacksepticeye.com ( PMA stands for positive mental attitude) and/or 100% of the profits today from topofthemornincoffee.com will also go towards Thankmas. I've gotten numerous things from top of the mornin coffee over the months and can confirm it's all actually really good. I prefer his mugs over most of the mugs I already had and his coffee is the 1st coffee that didn't actually make me sick.. I've always been pretty sensitive to coffee caffeine. I can't guarantee how it would or wouldn't affect others who are sensitive but at least for me I genuinely like it. I also like his tea.
I haven't ever had any of his merch from his site jacksepticeye.com, but I have bought merch from cloak brand which he shares with some others and that's been really good quality and comfortable stuff that I've, again, genuinely enjoyed. So theoretically any any shirt or whatever you buy through Jacksepticeye.com would also be comfortable. The proceeds are going to Thankmas from those sales too.
In future years I wanna be more properly set up so I can do livestreams or something to join in but it just wasn't something I could do this year. So I'm hoping someone out there sees this and is inspired to join in some way or form, or at least will share the word about this charity event. Last year was the 1st year I knew of it and I watched the livestream and really enjoyed it...
I absolutely love charity events that really encourage community and really care about the topics. I've really only been watching Jacksepticeye for about a year now but I absolutely love him and I feel like he's one of the most genuine people.. I think he really cares about this charity and that makes me really care too .
Thankmas is now going to be an annual charity event I look forward to like project for awesome is already for me.
Please check it out if you can! I wish I could lead this year with donating but I just can't, no matter how hard I try looking at it. I'm hoping at least spreading the word helps a little instead.
If, like me, you also can't donate I'm hoping you will at least spread the word or recommend people you know who livestream or do whatever online check out to see if they're able to join in... I'm not sure exactly how many more days it will go but but I don't think today is the last day. Not positive on that so if you do want to check out livestreams you should check out the site today and you can click around.
One of the really cool things about this charity event is it encourages literally anyone to join, which means there's almost 2000 creators on the site already doing or having done livestreams or some sort of fundraiser. And you can find people who have tons of viewers down to people who have no viewers. Which makes it a really nice place to click on random livestreams and discover new people.
Brightest of blessings to you and yours, my friends, and take care of yourselves!
https://thankmas.tiltify.com/
I am planning at some point to do a Q&A on my discord--if anyone has questions they want me to answer, let me know. Depending on how many questions there are, what they are, etc, I'm sure I can put the questions/answers somewhere else too. I just wanted to try it out on discord first :)
I haven't done much on my personal discord yet (a shocker to no one) but if you haven't seen it yet and are interested, feel free to check it out: https://discord.gg/NUWbVgxE
There's like, nothing on it rn. But I will add things as I go. And of course if you have any ideas/feedback/whatever, throw it my way!
PS: this is a separate discord from the ICoS discord just FYI
PPS: for the Q&A, it can be about anything - can you add Q&A in the ask though so I know it's for that? Thanks :) (Or reply to this or do whatever you want to get me the question)
How would have cedrick responded to learning about what vivienne had done to boyd by putting him up for the position at the agency, giving him a promotion, and selling him to cyclone? Would he have been angry, or thought that she was trying to protect him in her own way? How would he have reacted to seeing Boyd after the Aleixo mission, or at the end of fade after his eye was removed, at times where it was really obvious the affect physically and mentally that the lifetsyle had on boyd? Would he chose a side in the Beaulieu's feuds, or would he play both sides to try to make both of his loved ones happy? How would Boyd feel about his reaction? Would Boyd want Cedrick to be mad at Vivienne? What would Boyd want from his father if he came back to life in fade, what kind of relationship would he want?
**ICOS SPOILERS - JUST FYI :)**
I'm putting the whole reply behind a cut because I ended up rambling a bit - also I have a (shittily written and very short) excerpt from Julian Files that feels kind of relevant to this line of questioning, so that's easier to throw behind a cut too.
hi!!! firstly i just want to say i LOVE ICOS with my whole being. i read it for the first time in high school abt 5 years ago and read it again over quarantine last summer and it drew me in and wrapped me up wholly, i couldn’t put it down. i love the story and characters so much.
i also love writing very much and have always written small stories, fan fiction etc., the past couple weeks i’ve felt inspired to write fiction of my own, a novel of sorts with my own original plot and characters, and i wanted to ask you for some advice/ words of wisdom.
how did you plan out the characters you wrote? or did you more just let them write themselves? and did you plan out chapter by chapter how the plot would unfold before writing, or again let it happen as you wrote it? i’ve found it easier for me personally to let things happen as i write, and that the characters do things and say things i never planned for, was wondering if you felt the same or if you were more organized lol.
also what platform did you use to write on?
sorry for the long post, i hope you’re doing well.
Aww thank you, that's so sweet! I'm glad you like it :)
Side note, before I forget to mention - I just made a subreddit for my writing/stuff which will include ICoS things... I'll be adding more info on there this weekend hopefully, and I'm sure I'll do another post over here too but the link if you want it is https://www.reddit.com/r/aisylum/ It may be a place to find some other stuff in the future if you think of anything. I was thinking of doing an AMA or Q&A type thing over there too. Obviously, always feel free to ask here too <3 I love either place. Just wanted to mention while I'm thinking of it :)
I'm so happy you've been inspired to write - good luck and great job! I think that sounds absolutely awesome and I bet your story will be fantastic :)
We kind of did a bit of a hybrid.... I really wish I had the original bulletpoint list for what the book was originally going to be, but "Sonny" and I had opposite ways of looking at things. "He" would delete things as we went, and I would squirrel it all away until later lol So "he" deleted a bunch of bulletpoints/early info as we went because neither of us actually expected anything to come of any of it, so I also wasn't super anal about keeping track of things way early on. I might still have some documents buried somewhere with info but offhand I don't know where.
Anyway so I kind of am more like you in the way you write, but I will sometimes make the effort to try to plan a bit, especially if there's a cowriter. For ICoS for example, we had a rough outline planned of what was going to be the story, we started writing, we let the characters/plot/etc go where it needed to go, that meant things we hadn't planned from the start came in. The original story was basically mostly Evenfall, then skip Afterimage and Interludes for the most part but not entirely, and then we didn't really have a hugely detailed end initially from what I recall but we knew generally what was going to happen, so some of the stuff from later Fade would probably have been in the bullets. But when we got to the end of Evenfall, whatever was our next bulletpoint just did not feel right; we knew all the other stuff that starts Afterimage would happen instead.
For my long ongoing LGBTQ+ fantasy series I'm working on, the first book is finished but I'm editing it to change/add some significant stuff. I have a whole bunch of info on that which I've compiled over the years, so to an extent I have a general idea of plot things that will go down in the rewrite and also in the future into the other books, but a lot of details and even bigger points are left untouched. I prefer to let the characters/story/world/plot go where it wants to go, and I just have general points that I know make sense or have to happen eventually, and I look for how to fit them in as organically as possible to the way the story is going. If that makes sense. I will occasionally try to really work out exact storyline bullets but I get so bored so quickly that I never finish.
Because I like world-building and character development, I actually find it more fun and more useful for my organizational skills (any that exist, anyway, lol) to be aimed more toward that. Rather than focusing on the story and what the plot will be and what character will say what in which chapter, I prefer to dig into the past of the characters, dig into the world, the magic system or whatever is relevant, and have that info all squirreled away somewhere if needed. That way, as I'm going forward with writing the characters/story more organically, if things are going around what I initially thought the plot would be, this gives me something to then pull from for inspiration on how to incorporate this new plot/etc into the world more seamlessly, and make it feel more at home. And if you have all that info on characters, it also makes it easier to throw in things that flesh the character out more, and that can all lead toward character development in the future.
Boyd, for example - when we first had the valentine thing come up, it was just going to be a thing that happened that showed their miscommunication and how fucked the Agency was. But then it didn't make sense to me for it to just be a thing mentioned once and never again. So then that added to Boyd's story; now he was a valentine, so if it made sense or it was relevant, that was a thing that could or should come up. As the story progressed and the world grew, and with that the Agency and other factors were more fleshed out, it became more and more relevant. Then, by the time Fade came around, it was fully integrated into Boyd's story because by that point it would be weirder if it weren't - and because it made total sense in the characters' perspectives and the different organizations' perspectives and the story as a whole for the things to happen the way they did. But all of that, of course, then informs Boyd's mental health, physical health, and overall stability. Which then affects how he interacts with the world and other characters, which then affects the plot to an extent because of the choices he would make that may be different now, in the context of these life experiences, compared to prior to those life experiences. If the valentine thing never happened in Evenfall, a lot of Fade would be different. When we had that coming up in Evenfall, we didn't know another book was coming at all, let alone 3, let alone that it would end up having such a significant impact on the story and character development. But that's just kind of an example of building on things as you go, which is what I tend to do, personally.
As for the program - in the beginning we just used Word I think, and talked on AIM or something. It's been so long I don't totally remember. But for most of it we used Google Docs because that made it easy to share and write/edit at the same time.
Also, haha never be sorry for long posts - as you can see, I will almost always go longer ^_~
Hope you're doing well too! Thanks for your interest :)
hello!! i just spent the past month or so reading all the icos books, scrolling through your account, and reading the notes you posted about the sequel on patreon. i’m absolutely amazed by this series and these characters, i don’t have words for how good of a time i had delving into this story. i started off loving hsin immediately and although it took me some time to warm up to boyd, he ended up being one of my absolute favorite characters that i’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. i really think boyd and hsin and their story, along with the stories of all the other amazing characters associated with them, will stick with me for a long time. anyway sorry for the long message, but i just wanted to express my gratitude for these books—they helped me out a lot mentally after everything post-2020 haha. i did have a sort of question though!! how did boyd deal with the loss of one of his eyes? did he train with hsin to help adapt? how did he deal with the insecurities and frustrations that came with that loss?
Just in case - **ICOS SPOILERS / FADE SPOILERS** :)
Hi! Aww that's awesome! I'm so happy you enjoyed the series :) And that you were able to find all the content on it right away too. It's also really cool how things shifted for you over the course of the series - because that means it did its job with showing character progression :) I mean, not that it matters if people end up liking all the characters or not - but if you start feeling one way and end another, that's awesome because it means there was character development that resonated with you in anyone and that's one of my favorite things when I'M reading a book, so it's one of my favorite things for if anyone ever reads anything I'm involved in writing. So that made me really happy to hear, thank you <3
I'm gonna put my answer behind a cut just in case for spoilers :) Hopefully this thing doesn't disallow you from clicking the Read More link which once in awhile tumblr does.
Spoilers behind cut :D
Hello! I love Icos so much and I was wondering if you could share some cute things about Boyd and Hsin relationship. Are they happy, even if they are still running away?
Just in case - **SPOILERS FOR ICOS**
aww thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah I think they are tbh. I think they finally figured out how to work through things as a team, and their love for each other is pretty much cemented so there's no need for questioning or confusion on that front.
That being said..... I just realized, I did post what we had of the sequel notes and they didn't get much chance to be happy, once again, because we suck at giving them full on happy endings. But! I still believe they'd have one at the end of that too!
Just in case you didn't see that and are curious though - https://www.patreon.com/posts/icos-sequel-what-44700040 has all the info :) Don't worry - yes, I posted it on my Patreon, but it's not behind a pay wall. It was just the easiest place for me to remember where to find it and put all the info in one place. But all the info there is free so you don't need to pay anything.
Aside from that, I'm trying to think of cute things that could happen regardless. Hmm. I imagine Boyd still likes to sleep cuddled up against Hsin, especially if he can have his head where he can hear his heartbeat. He probably doesn't sleep that way every night but I think it's a thing he'd love. I also imagine there were probably times Boyd painted Hsin for fun, and they may have even made a joke of it at some point if it made sense. They probably still try to get each other birthday or other holiday-type presents, and they probably both still kind of suck at it sometimes, but the thought is always there and they're getting better over time. Regardless, they probably always know the other person's intentions were good, and that probably reminds them of their love.
As a side note, I'd answered a question about marriage forever ago but it feels like it could fit here too. Someone once asked if they would ever get married and what we figured was that if either of them asked, the other would say yes. It's just a question of whether either of them ever felt like it was something they wanted to do, and they may need to also explain their thoughts to the other as to the reason/meaning/whatever. But ultimately? Doesn't matter if Hsin asked or Boyd asked; the answer would be yes.
I'm definitely uncomfortable with the incest jokes and want them tagged, and idk if theres more than the vega sandwich stuff, but that is the main example. i am completely serious that incest jokes make me uncomfortable and i want to be able to avoid jokes about it if they exist. it also sets a tone in the fandom that vega sandwich jokes are different than regular incest jokes, but they are just as triggering, so i'd really rather that it was tagged
Hey thanks for replying! I appreciate it! I'm glad you were able to get back to me on this!
Completely fair, my friend :) I'm generally not big on incest jokes either tbh; Vega Sandwich kind of just became a thing that turned into an ongoing meme so now the way it's mentioned amuses me as a meme but I don't at all blame anyone who is uncomfortable with it. Makes complete sense and it's a totally fair request to be able to have a tag you can input to avoid. Especially because in the real world there's some really seriously terrible shit that can happen where people are survivors of incest or similar and that can be incredibly triggering. I know people personally who are survivors, yet it didn't even occur to me before you mentioned this because somehow my brain put a space between IRL and story on that topic and didn't manage to connect the dots.
So - this is a great idea and I really appreciate you saying something, but I'm also really sorry it didn't occur to me first and instead you had to get into a position that made you feel uncomfortable and ask :(
I was trying to remember when I last made any jokes about it but since I'm so hit or miss the last several months on tumblr I don't remember at all. But in thinking on it, that also makes me wonder if I could have reposted stuff too that had it and it didn't even occur to me. Sometimes when I use tumblr it's on my phone and for some reason the app won't let me do tags all the time, so I am pretty sure I've done several reposts without any tags at all.
All that is to say - I am going to do my best to remember to use that tag in anything I'm posting or reposting that has an incest joke in it. But if you (or anyone) ever notices I miss something, seriously, I want people to tell me so I can go back and tag it. I will try to not have that be an issue in the first place, but because I tend to go weeks/months without touching tumblr then spam post, and sometimes it just won't let me edit tags, if ever something does slip through it's unintentional and I definitely want to be called out on it so I can fix it for you and anyone else who needs it.
For now, I started by tagging this one with that :) Also I was trying to remember and yeah I think Vega Sandwich is the main incest joke that I can think of in the series so anything incest at all related should fit having this tag - but just in case, even if other incest jokes pop up, I'll still tag it vega sandwich unless we get good ideas from anyone else on what else to do in those rare scenarios (although I would think if nothing else just tagging it incest would also help).
Sorry for the long ass reply as always - but again, seriously, thanks for saying something :) I'm sorry you had to say something, because I hate for people to feel uncomfortable in the first place. But I super appreciate that you did say something and you clarified further. That was awesome of you :)
You rock!
I hope you have a good day :)
Oh and PS if you know of specific examples recently you want me to go back and tag I can do that :) But otherwise, so you don't have to stress out on it, we'll just start from today forward with the tag.
Boyd, Owen, and Emilio are the comedic trio I never knew I need in my life lol, I enjoyed their scene in Fade a lot. It was so needed after all the heavy stuff that happened in the book.
Just in case - **KIND OF SPOILERS FOR AFTERIMAGE + IN ICOS SORT OF**
lol I'm glad! That chapter always amuses me. That was actually so fun to write... I love being able to write Owen because he's so fucking just... Owen... and when you throw those other two personalities into the mix it was way more entertaining than I ever expected it would be. Now you're making me want to go back and skim that again... Sometimes when I'm zoning out and I look down and see the freckles on my arms I suddenly think of Owen going, "All sorts of gangly limbs and freckles everywhere, I swear." and it's really dumb but I get amused by my own line. So I'm glad you get entertainment out of it too lol Also yeah, there reallllllly sort of needed a break in the mood around there XD I somehow manage to forget sometimes how intense the emotional rollercoaster can be with the series....
Naturally I’m rereading my favorite parts of the series like I do so often and I’m on The Interludes and it just reminds me how much I liked Bridget Monaghan’s character. She seemed to fully understood Boyd and was willing to call him out on his shit continuously throughout his interview and in such a calm and collected way. Most people when dealing with Boyd and his evasive word games get furious with him, even Hsin has wanted to backhand him more than a handful of times, but my theory is that she and Boyd would have the best time arguing over anything and everything in literally any other situation. I see Boyd as someone who genuinely likes to argue with people in a non aggressive way because he seems to me like someone who uses his words to best describe how he feels and thinks to other people; but it’s also a great way for him to deflect and protect himself with “technicalities” when he feels he’s in trouble or in danger. Bridget was good at talking with him and seeing her smirk throughout most of their interaction tells me that some part of her enjoys it as well. Honestly, I don’t know what this ask is even saying but like… you know what I’m saying…
Tl;dr, I think Bridget was probably the least problematic person from the Euro death squad and it’s too bad that she was the one murdered. Not cool John! Not cool.
Just in case - **SPOILERS FOR INTERLUDES AND FADE IN QUESTION AND ANSWER**
I never know anymore when/if I should tag spoilers but hey! Just in case I figured I would :)
I hadn't thought about it like this but you are absolutely right... she really was the best at ignoring his deflections and just continuously getting back to the point, spearing through any BS he tried pulling.
And yeah, I think Boyd does like to argue/debate with people - not aggressively, or even to be an asshole, he just likes to express himself with words and see what others are doing/thinking and all that. Part of that is probably a bit of a genetic hand-me-down from his journalist dad and idk-how-to-describe-her mom, but probably also it's related to how when he was younger (well actually, a lot of his life) he didn't really fit in super well with others and in school he was bullied. So he used to watch other kids/people basically studying how they interacted, what they did, etc, in a sort of social experiment to understand what he was doing wrong or what the difference was between them. Which is why, despite being so apathetic and introverted in the start of the series, he was still good pretty early on at blending in on missions. He'd already spent so much of his life watching people around him to see how to blend in that he knew how to apply some skills in work.
That may also be why he was more likely to see past the masks other people used or just at least could see something in them that they didn't see in themselves, and why he was less likely to be judgmental about it in the process. But because he also had spent so much of his life being told he was worthless and should die, he was also very defensive for a long time even if he didn't always realize it. Which I think is also what led to the technicalities you mentioned - which Boyd 100% does. Like. All the time lol
I feel like, if they'd been given the chance, Bridget and Boyd might have been able to have some interesting conversations in the future. She might have been someone who would have challenged him the most instead of just ignoring or dismissing or getting annoyed with the way he responded to some things.
I hadn't ever thought of it before but I think you're right - and that's sad! Dangit! Maybe in an AU they can chill together sometime lol Now I like to imagine them having long, detailed, friendly arguments about which restaurant serves the best food, or why this book in xyz series was better than that book, or Bridget could just come in one day when Boyd and Hsin have been fighting and be like "oh for fuck's sake, just TALK ALREADY" and lay waste to all of the excuses... Would have been fun and funny.
Thanks for the message! That made me happy to read and think about :)
Hi! I read ICOS last year and I loved it so much. I was just wondering if I could have a link to the wordpress where the high school AU and all the other things were? The links don’t work anymore huhuhu. Thank you so much!
Oh no they don't? Dangit, thanks for letting me know!
https://aisness.wordpress.com/ is the general wordpress link.
https://aisness.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/icos-au-hs/ is the table of content for the ICoS High School AU bits. You should be able to click each of those links listed if you scroll down, but just in case that doesn't work on your end - https://aisness.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/icos-au-hs-1/ is the first part and I *THINK* I posted the link to the next part at the bottom of each post but I'm not positive. Theoretically you could just keep clicking the continue links at bottom. Otherwise, the search engine in the upper right of the blog actually works pretty well so if you search icos high school you'll get all the links that way too.
Hope that helps and sorry I took forever to reply! Haven't been online much for health stuff but trying to get back into it. Also if there's something else you remember that you can't find linked places let me know; I may be able to track it down if needed.
